Utah Jazz 2018-19 Championship Bus CHOO CHOO

[Handlogten's Heros]

Have we tried repetitively feeding Favors inside with Tucker on him? Feed Favors inside and have Donovan go at Capela. Good way to get him in foul trouble (if they'll call them).

That ain’t it... we did that against them last year, going at Capela, I would rather get Harden on the switch and have DM go at him... chance that he gets tired or in foul trouble. Have Capela come over and help and get Rudy loose on the backside for dunks and offensive rebounds.

Read Andy Larsen’s article it was pretty good but outlines why feeding the post ain’t the best way to punish them... high pass and offensive rebounding are better options.

 

[Avery]

One thing is for sure, Rudy has to play better than last year. Capela should Venmo Rudy for how much money he made off of him with his new contract due to his postseason play.

 

[Sean]

Here is the upside: We ended the Yao/McGrady Rockets, We ended Lob City, and now we have the chance to end Phi Floppa Jamma. If Houston doesn't beat us, that whole franchise is in shambles. That is a worthy goal.

Taking the Rockets out in seven was extremely satisfying in 2007 - one of the best playoff series in franchise history. The rematch, without Yao in 2008, was fun but not entirely unexpected. Sadly, I think the 2007 Jazz were, all around, a better, more consistent team than this year's Jazz - and that Houston team had some wild mind games with McGrady never advancing beyond the first round (some epic chokes in the past, too, with the Raps, Magic and then the Rockets)...plus, it always felt like the Jazz was, hands down, the better team. They just had to work through their own mind games (this series was also the one where AK had a ****ing meltdown after game two in Houston or some **** like that). But it was an odd series. The Jazz dominated huge swaths of game one and two, only to relinquish the lead late in the fourth quarter, and then absolutely crushed Houston in Salt Lake City for all three home games. You could see game seven building and finally, the Jazz were able to stave off the inevitable Rockets run late in the game and won. I don't know if I feel as confident this team is on that level ... I really do believe Houston is the better team and, unfortunately, that often results in winning a seven game series.

 

[mellow]

Wish nothing but bad karma for the Queens. Starters were all between +10 and +19 for the game. Portland only played 6 guys. Someone must have made some BIG money on this one by betting at half-time. League should look at Vlade's bank account over the next few weeks and see when he gets that big payout.

https://www.nba.com/kings/news/dave-joerger-relieved-kings-head-coach

 

[JimLes]

Maybe I'm thinking about this too rationally, but I tend to assume that there are win-based expectations for coaches before every season. The Kings won 39 games and Joerger was sacked. How many games did Divac realistically expect them to win? Or in other words, how many wins would've saved Joerger's job?

 

[RRJazz]

This is why losses to Lakers a couple nights ago and losses Hawks and earlier in the season Mavs by over 40 point bite....I know its just one game right?
Just have to play it a game at a time and keep focused

This comes from the false conclusion that every victory is well deserved and expected, but losses are mostly inexcusable. So, we beat the Rockets twice or Golden State, because, well, OF COURSE, but we lose to the Hawks or Lakers (both finished the season strong) and that's a no no, you can't have even one of those. Well, even Golden State lost to the Wolves not long ago.

 

[fishonjazz]

This comes from the false conclusion that every victory is well deserved and expected, but losses are mostly inexcusable. So, we beat the Rockets twice or Golden State, because, well, OF COURSE, but we lose to the Hawks or Lakers (both finished the season strong) and that's a no no, you can't have even one of those. Well, even Golden State lost to the Wolves not long ago.

Golden State lost to the magic and the freaking Suns as well

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[JimLes]

The problem is that the Jazz have underperformed compared to all the other teams in the West. It's not simply that "every victory is well deserved and expected, but losses are mostly inexcusable."

50 wins, whereas our pythagorean win projection was 54. It was 57 versus 56 projected for GSW. 54 vs 51 for Denver, 53 vs 51 for Blazers, and 53 vs 53 for the Rockets.

And it's not an outlier. Last year, it was 48 wins instead of 53. The year before 51 instead of 52. 40 instead of 46 in 2016. 38 instead of 42 Quin's first year.

I mean, I've warmed to Quin the last couple of years, but I still wish he could just figure out how to consistently win close games so we don't finish with the second best point differential in the West, but without homecourt advantage. It just keeps happening to the Jazz.

 

[framer]

Taking the Rockets out in seven was extremely satisfying in 2007 - one of the best playoff series in franchise history. The rematch, without Yao in 2008, was fun but not entirely unexpected. Sadly, I think the 2007 Jazz were, all around, a better, more consistent team than this year's Jazz - and that Houston team had some wild mind games with McGrady never advancing beyond the first round (some epic chokes in the past, too, with the Raps, Magic and then the Rockets)...plus, it always felt like the Jazz was, hands down, the better team. They just had to work through their own mind games (this series was also the one where AK had a ****ing meltdown after game two in Houston or some **** like that). But it was an odd series. The Jazz dominated huge swaths of game one and two, only to relinquish the lead late in the fourth quarter, and then absolutely crushed Houston in Salt Lake City for all three home games. You could see game seven building and finally, the Jazz were able to stave off the inevitable Rockets run late in the game and won. I don't know if I feel as confident this team is on that level ... I really do believe Houston is the better team and, unfortunately, that often results in winning a seven game series.

Eh, I think the Jazz accomplished what they wanted to do last year and weren't really prepared to mix it up with the Rockets. I think we are a better team with deeper aspirations this year, at least in terms of our matchup with the Rockets. If you are going to do damage to the Warriors in the second round, beating Houston has to be a part of that. Jazz would likely have been swept by tuning up on the depleted Blazers. Imagine a Jazz team fresh off beating the Rockets. That is the stuff that happens to make you a contender. Praying for favorable seeding gets you the Boozer Jazz, who always remained flawed. Sure they made the conference finals, but they didn't really belong there. Everyone knew it, including, obviously, the team.

I'm not convinced that Houston is the better team this year. The good thing is, we get to find out without some sort of coach or media voting.

 

[fishonjazz]

The problem is that the Jazz have underperformed compared to all the other teams in the West. It's not simply that "every victory is well deserved and expected, but losses are mostly inexcusable."

50 wins, whereas our pythagorean win projection was 54. It was 57 versus 56 projected for GSW. 54 vs 51 for Denver, 53 vs 51 for Blazers, and 53 vs 53 for the Rockets.

And it's not an outlier. Last year, it was 48 wins instead of 53. The year before 51 instead of 52. 40 instead of 46 in 2016. 38 instead of 42 Quin's first year.

I mean, I've warmed to Quin the last couple of years, but I still wish he could just figure out how to consistently win close games so we don't finish with the second best point differential in the West, but without homecourt advantage. It just keeps happening to the Jazz.

Crazy That a team with zero all stars led by a 2 year late lottery pick and 27th pick were expected to win 54 games. And they were expected to win 53 last year? After losing Hayward? That can't be right. Why the **** would anyone think the jazz would win 53 games last season?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[Alfalfa]

Crazy That a team with zero all stars led by a 2 year late lottery pick and 27th pick were expected to win 54 games. And they were expected to win 53 last year? After losing Hayward? That can't be right. Why the **** would anyone think the jazz would win 53 games last season?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

Ya, sounds made up.

 

[JimLes]

Crazy That a team with zero all stars led by a 2 year late lottery pick and 27th pick were expected to win 54 games. And they were expected to win 53 last year? After losing Hayward? That can't be right. Why the **** would anyone think the jazz would win 53 games last season?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythagorean_expectation#Use_in_basketball

 

[One Brow]

Crazy That a team with zero all stars led by a 2 year late lottery pick and 27th pick were expected to win 54 games. And they were expected to win 53 last year? After losing Hayward? That can't be right. Why the **** would anyone think the jazz would win 53 games last season?

The Pythagorean is how games you should have won based on point differential. If you tend to win close games, you do better than your Pythagorean. If you tend to lose close games, you do worse. No predictions are involved.

As a young teams still on the rise, I am OK with our record vs. the Pythagorean. It means we'll get even better.

 

[dipship31]

Crazy That a team with zero all stars led by a 2 year late lottery pick and 27th pick were expected to win 54 games. And they were expected to win 53 last year? After losing Hayward? That can't be right. Why the **** would anyone think the jazz would win 53 games last season?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

Pretty sure those numbers were just calculated using our victory total for the year and then incorporating margin of victory. Based on how large our margin of victory was we SHOULD be winning more games.

 

[JimLes]

The Jazz are 2-8 this year in games decided by 4 points or fewer. And this doesn't include the Clippers game, for example, where the Jazz had a chance to win it in at death, but lost in OT by more than 4.

And again, this has been happening for 4-5 seasons now and is a legitimate issue. Just going 5-5 in those games would've led to a much better playoff matchup.

 

[Ferguson_Mellochill]

The problem is that the Jazz have underperformed compared to all the other teams in the West. It's not simply that "every victory is well deserved and expected, but losses are mostly inexcusable."

50 wins, whereas our pythagorean win projection was 54. It was 57 versus 56 projected for GSW. 54 vs 51 for Denver, 53 vs 51 for Blazers, and 53 vs 53 for the Rockets.

And it's not an outlier. Last year, it was 48 wins instead of 53. The year before 51 instead of 52. 40 instead of 46 in 2016. 38 instead of 42 Quin's first year.

I mean, I've warmed to Quin the last couple of years, but I still wish he could just figure out how to consistently win close games so we don't finish with the second best point differential in the West, but without homecourt advantage. It just keeps happening to the Jazz.

I think the Jazz's defense keeps them in games, keeps them from getting blown out and helps boost the point differential overall.

The Jazz probably aren't a top-tier team. We have trouble scoring against elite defenses. The first half of the season the Jazz had a tough schedule with several schedule losses. When the schedule turned favorable, the Jazz went 30-11. The Jazz's record against playoff-caliber teams isn't great. We were 8-8 against Northwest Division opponents.

 

[Stoked]

 

[fishonjazz]

The Pythagorean is how games you should have won based on point differential. If you tend to win close games, you do better than your Pythagorean. If you tend to lose close games, you do worse. No predictions are involved.

As a young teams still on the rise, I am OK with our record vs. the Pythagorean. It means we'll get even better.

That makes sense. So it's an after the fact kinda prediction

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[fishonjazz]

Pretty sure those numbers were just calculated using our victory total for the year and then incorporating margin of victory. Based on how large our margin of victory was we SHOULD be winning more games.

OR we shouldn't be beating teams by so many points in our wins (and staying so close in our losses)

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app

 

[fishonjazz]

So I guess you could say that due to our point differential we should have more wins (like Jim is saying) and we underachieved.
Or you could go the other way and say due to our record we should have a worse point differential and we over achieved.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using JazzFanz mobile app